Latest / The BIG Home Ed Conversations | Home Education / Season 4 Finale – Our Home Ed Year in Review

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Season 4 Finale – Our Home Ed Year in Review · The BIG Home Ed Conversations | Home Education

0:16
Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of the big Home
0:19
Ed conversations, the last one or season 4.
0:23
So we are Kelly Rig. I'm home Ed mom of two, founder
0:26
of off roading motherhoods and a qualified mindset coach.
0:29
So I'm really passionate about supporting parents and
0:31
neurodivergent families, especially as they navigate the
0:33
transition from mainstream schooling into home education.
0:36
I'm joined as always by my lovely Co host, Ashley Venerio.
0:39
So she's a fellow home Ed mom of three and a former primary
0:42
teacher. So we created the Big Home Ed
0:44
Conversations podcast, tasked with what began as just really
0:47
honest, heartfelt talks around the coffee table while the kids
0:49
were running around us. But it's now grown into a space
0:51
where hundreds of listeners now tune in for real, unfiltered
0:54
conversations about mindset, behaviour, challenges,
0:57
educational philosophies and to the often emotional journey of
1:00
alternative education. So we aim to cut through the
1:02
noise and to focus on what really matters to home,
1:04
educating families, offering clarity, confidence and some
1:08
community in every episode. Today we thought we'd keep up
1:11
with the tradition of what we kind of started last year.
1:14
I suppose it's not. Is it officially a tradition If
1:16
you've done it two years in a row?
1:17
I. Think so.
1:19
We can definitely do it for you every year if you like it, but
1:21
it was one of our most listened to episodes last year.
1:24
It was our year on reflection, just like considering what went
1:27
well in our home edge this year, what we loved, what resources we
1:31
enjoyed, places we went that just felt absolutely epic and
1:34
what we maybe want to look forward to to next year.
1:36
If there's anything that we're keeping, anything we're getting
1:38
rid of any, any kind of like lasting thoughts, this is a
1:41
lovely opportunity for us to reflect as well and, and really
1:44
consider those things in our, in our home Ed's journey.
1:47
Because I think so often we can all find ourselves just ticking
1:50
along just just like keeping on going.
1:53
And sometimes it can be quite difficult to pause and actually
1:56
go, gosh, I did that really well or my kids have really shown a
1:59
lot of growth in this area. And actually it feels really
2:01
nice sometimes to sit and just have a bit of a pause and to
2:03
notice the changes that are happening.
2:05
Yeah. So we thought we'd do that for
2:07
you today and let you know what we've been up to.
2:08
So this is going to be pretty chilled.
2:10
We've we've not really done much planning ahead of this episode.
2:12
We're just going to let it go where it goes.
2:14
I've had a bit of a think and flicked back through my photos
2:16
this morning to see like what bits really stand out to me.
2:19
And I think I'll start with travel.
2:22
Now, travel doesn't necessarily have to mean going abroad.
2:25
Obviously, I appreciate we all have our varying budgets and and
2:28
we certainly can't travel a lot a lot in terms of getting
2:30
overseas to different countries. But my kids show such an intense
2:36
gratitude for travel. And as a neurodivergent family
2:39
especially, we seek novelty like it's going out fashion.
2:43
And honestly, it does my head in a little bit at home because
2:46
it's very difficult to create novelty in your own house in the
2:50
same old, same old and the same clubs and groups and the same
2:52
groups of places that you see people and everything.
2:55
And eventually we do get a bit bored and a little bit stuck and
2:58
none of us know really what to do with ourselves.
3:00
But travel is it just has novelty built in.
3:03
Every single second of the day has some element of novelty.
3:06
You're staying in a different place, you're seeing different
3:08
things. You're speaking a different
3:10
language. Like we've just gotten back from
3:12
Belgium and the whole week my kids were looking for new words
3:15
to learn and asking people what things meant or how to say it
3:19
and be we're learning a bit of Dutch before we went and they
3:22
got kind of stuck saying, but don't because it's not don't
3:25
show on the head. It's it's thank you is bedanked.
3:28
And they honestly were just hilarious in the lead up
3:30
learning how to say goodbye. Is it Dewey and hello and and
3:34
and trying to get the accent right and saying it correctly
3:36
and as we were driving through Belgium to get there, we would
3:39
sort for sale signs to coop. If I'm not, I'm not sure if I'm
3:43
even saying it right. But we, we just, we're picking
3:45
up bits and pieces all over the place.
3:47
And their joy for it was just unbearably cute.
3:51
That and the fact that Belgium is completely flat and my kids
3:54
have now decided that it is illegal to have hills in
3:57
Belgium, that they must the people who build a hill, if they
4:00
make a hill, then they'll probably go to jail for the rest
4:02
of their lives if we consider it a heinous crime.
4:05
They just really tickled me. They're just like, Oh no, that
4:07
guy over there, he's doing some building work and he's made a
4:10
hill. He's going to get into trouble
4:11
with the police. It's just so cute.
4:14
And they just have had the best time just noticing the
4:17
differences and seeing stuff that's going on around them.
4:20
And the learning just happens all for itself.
4:22
Like I try and keep a little bit of a log at the end of each day.
4:25
I just try and note down the things which I've noticed, all
4:28
the things we've actively, intentionally learnt about.
4:30
And my goodness, I think one day I was sat there for over 45
4:33
minutes logging bits and pieces of things that I'd seen them
4:36
doing. And I was just like, holy moly,
4:37
this just writes itself. Like I've not put any effort
4:40
into this today. And they've just had a wonderful
4:41
day. They've learned so much.
4:42
And so I think for me, if there's definitely one thing
4:45
I'll reflect on this year is obviously the opportunities
4:47
we've had to travel. We're really lucky to get to go
4:50
over to Belgium this this week just gone.
4:52
But we've done a lot of UK travel, just just camping and
4:55
being in different parts of the country and seeing different
4:57
environments, seeing all the ponies in the New Forest and all
5:01
these different experiences, I think just adds so much
5:04
enrichment to our children's lives and gives them a chance to
5:08
see some different perspectives and to ask some new questions.
5:12
And it just piques that curiosity that you can
5:15
absolutely keep trying to replicate that at home.
5:17
But it is harder. It is harder.
5:21
And I've just found that the weeks we've been away have
5:23
created that much more learning than I could possibly even
5:26
imagine. It takes the pressure off like
5:30
it's a really lovely, easeful thing for a change.
5:32
So I think that's definitely something which I'm going to try
5:35
and weave in as many opportunities to do as possible.
5:38
I said some husband, if we set up a budget and we decide how
5:40
much we can spend, maybe we can be a little bit more selective
5:44
with it and try and do some little weekends in different
5:47
countries or try and try and give our youngest a chance to
5:49
fly like she's never flown before.
5:51
That we might be able to do a little trip somewhere or
5:53
whatever and, and give them some other experiences this year.
5:55
But you've obviously had some lovely opportunities to travel
5:57
this year as well, haven't you really, Obviously getting over
5:59
to France and going back to Italy and seeing family and
6:02
things like your kids are, are very lucky with all of that
6:05
anyway, aren't they? Get to see lots of different
6:07
parts of the world. We definitely do.
6:09
I think it's the nature of living somewhere that you're not
6:14
from. It just means that we, and we
6:17
constantly have complained about this throughout our
6:19
relationship, even before kids, that we spend all of our money
6:25
and time off of work traveling to see family and not traveling
6:31
on our own. Like even our honeymoon, his
6:33
parents came along because they had flown all the way to the
6:36
States for our wedding. Obviously they weren't going to
6:39
fly back. So everything has been an effort
6:45
of being with family or getting to family.
6:50
And so I think I actually, this is one of the notes that I had
6:54
down for this conversation was travel and how it's played out
6:57
in the past and what we're trying to have it look like in
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the future. This is definitely going to
7:04
change this coming year because my parents had planned to come
7:09
to England and they were going to swing by as part of the
7:13
cruise that they were doing and spend a couple weeks less before
7:16
they got on the boat. But they then canceled that trip
7:20
and we are not going to the states to make up for it.
7:26
So it is just so expensive to get our family of five there in
7:31
the 1st place that we then have nothing to spend once we're
7:35
there. And it just feels like
7:37
maintaining the day-to-day as well because while of course
7:41
were with my parents and they're doing plenty of things for us,
7:45
it's still the, it's not a vacation, right?
7:48
And it's still lovely. But I still have to do all the
7:52
things you do at home, make the food, clean up the food and
7:56
grocery shop. And, you know, it just doesn't
7:59
feel like we're getting any of those like vacation moments.
8:03
Like even just this past weekend we were also away because we
8:07
just took a quick opportunity to pop down to the champagne area
8:11
of France and get some champagne and do the Christmas markets
8:14
with the kids. And you just have all these
8:16
little things that come up that become like funny little moments
8:19
that you remember just kind of building those core memories.
8:22
And it it's really nice. And that doesn't happen in the
8:26
same way when we're just at our grandparents house.
8:28
There's definitely memories being made, but they're very
8:31
different. They're not about our like
8:33
nuclear family, right? And so I think that's the goal
8:37
that we're trying to do is just sort of make an effort.
8:39
We my husband had to go to Bora Bora last New Year's for work
8:44
and we much to the kids. Well, I don't want to say
8:50
disappointment because they didn't have a good time, but it
8:52
was a very long stay at Nona's for that trip to Bora Bora.
8:58
But like we said, you know, we're going to do it.
9:00
So we're trying to just sort of seize opportunities and we were
9:04
able to fly on points and I obviously stayed with him.
9:07
And so for the the cost of the trip for where we were going was
9:12
a very good bang for your buck. And so we're going to try to
9:17
continue to do things like that this year.
9:19
But for the kids, I want us to explore where we are.
9:23
So we are trying to do more, OK, there's lovely Christmas markets
9:26
that we can drive to. Let's do that.
9:29
There's plenty of places within England and the UK that I want
9:32
to see. And so I'm going to try to as
9:36
well just be really intentional this year to say, OK, where do
9:39
we want to go? What are some places that we
9:41
keep talking about, even just like Oxford, Manchester, like
9:45
let's make that happen. What do we want to do while
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we're there? And so I think that's something
9:49
that we're going to focus on a lot this year because the little
9:52
bits that we have done have been great.
9:54
So we did go this past year to the New Forest.
9:58
A lot of you were camping. We stayed in a cottage that my
10:00
girls loved. So I'm already emailing with
10:03
them trying to figure out what date we're doing it.
10:05
And we're absolutely doing it again for a week because they
10:10
they just loved it. And it just again puts us down
10:12
in the New Forest area, which they're just happy going for a
10:15
walk and seeing horses. So it's great.
10:16
It's. Wonderful, yeah.
10:19
And then we'll definitely camp again and hopefully glamp,
10:22
though I don't think I'm ever going to be a camper.
10:27
I have got ideas. I've been looking at Eurocamp
10:29
and I'm very excited. Like they do there, the tents
10:33
there, they've got beds, they've got those cookers and the fridge
10:36
freezer for you and everything. And it's like £300 for a week.
10:39
And I'm just like, I think I might need to do this at some
10:41
point. I found a gorgeous one in
10:42
Switzerland yesterday. It's right on a lake.
10:44
Like it's 20 minutes, 20 minutes to interlock.
10:46
And like, my goodness, I'm just like, Oh my God, I've always
10:48
wanted to go to Switzerland. So that might have to happen
10:50
next year. But like, I think creativity
10:52
wise, like realizing that there are so many different options
10:55
for travel and sometimes I mean, I get a bit stuck on how it
10:58
needs to look or that it needs to be a certain way.
11:01
And I think pre kids, we were lucky enough to do a bit of
11:03
luxury travel and to have that kind of really lovely adults,
11:06
only gorgeous, like, oh, just just wonderful experiences that
11:10
have spoiled me rotten. And so kind of like when you
11:13
have to backtrack in a little of the time to like get yourself
11:15
used to it. But we've got a massively into
11:16
camping and we really enjoy it. But to take all the camping gear
11:20
over to Europe felt really like maybe not.
11:23
But actually looking at it, you don't even need to take all the
11:25
gear like you can actually that you can just rent the tents put
11:29
up for you and everything. It's like, this is amazing.
11:31
I could love to go do that. So yeah, we're definitely going
11:33
to get a bit more creative with with our travel and see what we
11:36
can squeeze our budget to achieve, to get more opportunity
11:40
to be away, to get more, more weeks of our life travelling and
11:43
seeing the world. Yeah.
11:45
Because I think we've managed 5 weeks this year.
11:47
I was like, you know, I was thinking, gosh, that's quite a
11:48
lot. That's 5-5 weeks of being in
11:51
different places. I mean, most of that was
11:52
camping. So don't jump down my vote, but
11:54
being like very frivolous. But like, this is all mostly
11:57
camping. Belgium is definitely our most
11:59
expensive thing I've done this year.
12:01
But it was just really, really fun getting to see some lovely
12:04
new places. And I think the other thing I
12:06
put on my little notes about today was using different modes
12:09
of transport. Sounds nice.
12:12
And we know that kids tend to love trains or they love
12:14
whatever, but there is some real novelty to travelling to
12:18
somewhere using a mode of transport that they wouldn't
12:20
normally get to use. And we've done a couple of boat
12:24
trips and things this year. But getting to take the car
12:26
ferry over to Belgium, it was quite funny because both myself
12:30
and Ashley were at port or to like come home almost exactly
12:34
the same time. And I think she probably got
12:35
home about two hours before me. She took the Eurostar.
12:39
Yeah, I will say we were looking and we're like, oh, that's this
12:43
is way faster and it was raining a lot.
12:46
So I thought of you and thought like, oh gosh, yeah, that maybe
12:50
not the best views couldn't. See anything on the way there?
12:56
It was good. Yeah, but I agree like I think
12:59
it's nice to change it up and depending on where you're going
13:03
and again the time of year like is it if it's going to be a time
13:06
where you can have a great time on the ferry, I think that's a
13:09
fun experience too. And trains we actually, I
13:12
finally booked my daughter's going to be 12 this year, but I
13:15
finally booked her 10 year old. My plan was when she turned 10
13:19
to do a trip just with her and I finally booked it this year.
13:22
So we're going to take the train there and that that'll be, yeah,
13:25
it'll be really fun. So yeah, different.
13:28
Different modes of transport can be really entertaining.
13:30
I mean, I took the train up north to see family once just to
13:33
give the kids something different and it wasn't to go
13:36
and see my mom, sorry, over in the West Country.
13:38
And like we we went on the train and they were so excited to get
13:41
on the train and spent the whole time whining and I'm like, kids,
13:44
seriously, like this was an adventure.
13:46
But the, the reason why I mentioned it was more because
13:48
like it just gives you again, when you're looking at it from a
13:50
home Ed perspective, getting on the ferry to go over, you've got
13:54
the then remind finding us that when we get to the side that
13:57
we're going to have to drive on the other side of the road.
13:58
You've got them actually concentrating on the fact that
14:01
how the actual tugboat comes over, it gets connected to the
14:05
front of the ship and it helped it to move out of the harbor.
14:07
And like looking at the harbor walls and how the actual harbor
14:11
is built in the way that the obviously all the ships are
14:15
docked and how is it they keep it stable enough so that you can
14:19
drive the car and check what safety checks are they doing
14:20
before we can set off? Like, why can't you go down by
14:23
the car during the ferry crossing?
14:25
And like all these different questions that come up that they
14:28
would just never have any reason to ask otherwise.
14:30
Like they're literally never going to be in front of them.
14:32
And I think that from my perspective, the novelty
14:35
combined with just opportunities for questions and encouraging
14:39
questions all the time and, and answering them as quickly as you
14:42
can just breeds this lovely nature of curiosity in children
14:46
that they already have to be honest, they already want to ask
14:49
these questions. And the more we encourage it,
14:51
the more engaged they are in those environments, the the more
14:54
fun everything becomes because it means that they actually
14:57
appreciate it like this as well. Like I think sometimes we can as
15:01
parents, we can sometimes worry. Like we both were sat chatting a
15:04
bit before we came on about missed opportunities and things
15:07
we didn't quite get to do when we were on our holidays and
15:09
actually feeling a little bit sad about them.
15:10
And, and sometimes as parents, that can lead to a feeling of
15:14
our children weren't very grateful for something or they
15:16
didn't appreciate it very much or they didn't want to join in
15:18
with certain thing. How we pictured it was going to
15:20
be wasn't necessarily what we were talking about today, Just
15:23
both, both of us ended up with sick kids.
15:25
And so it's more the fact they were just very poorly and they
15:27
couldn't enjoy it. But that can sometimes, like in
15:29
some situations, it can make you feel like there's a lack of
15:32
gratitude or a lack of appreciation.
15:34
Actually, one of the things which I noticed very early on in
15:36
my relationship with my kids is to recognize questions as
15:39
gratitude when they show any signs of engagement or interest.
15:43
It doesn't always look like a thank you.
15:45
It doesn't always look like them grinning the whole day.
15:47
But what it can look like is a child just asking some really
15:50
good questions, even if it was only for a short period of the
15:52
day. We went to a museum on the way
15:54
back through Dunkirk. It was the 1940s museum about
15:57
the evacuation during World War 2, Battle of Dunkirk.
16:00
And I didn't pay attention to the time when we arrived.
16:04
It was far too close to lunchtime.
16:07
We started looking around. They're both instantly like, I'm
16:09
hungry. Is there a cafe here?
16:10
Can we have Food First? I'm just like, oh, no, like, I
16:12
didn't think about that, sorry. And we gave them some snacks,
16:15
and we carried on looking around.
16:16
But you could sell that, like, off about halfway through, they
16:18
were both like, seriously, like, we're really hungry.
16:21
Can we just go and have some lunch now?
16:23
But it's like I was able to segment out between like, you
16:25
know, actually they have shown a lot of interest here and they
16:28
have enjoyed it. I've messed up.
16:30
I've not created the right environment for their learning.
16:33
I should have made sure they've eaten properly 1st.
16:34
And so it's like, fair enough. Like these are these mistakes
16:37
you make. We always have to kind of adjust
16:38
and figure things out for next time.
16:39
But ultimately, these environments and opportunities
16:43
just give them a chance to be curious.
16:44
And the gratitude they showed me by the interest they showed in
16:48
the things that they could see is enough.
16:51
It makes me feel really satisfied that they've made the
16:53
most of an experience and they have taken stuff from it.
16:56
And so I find that sometimes I say just just travel and being a
16:58
different place and experiencing different things just naturally
17:01
creates this lovely kind of sense that you've covered an
17:04
awful lot. And it's been way more immersive
17:07
and engaging than if you just read a book about it or watch a
17:10
documentary or something like, Oh yeah.
17:13
And so I think that's for me is 100% a priority and something
17:16
I've really enjoyed this year. But what else have you had come
17:19
up this year that you've been enjoying?
17:24
Well, we definitely, I think the biggest thing in the back half
17:27
of the year has been that we sort of leaned more into
17:32
horseback riding and the girls have started a share pony and
17:36
this really changed the dynamic of our week and just sort of
17:42
rocked our routine and in in a good way.
17:45
They're loving the extra time with the horses, in this case
17:49
with her with the share pony, but it definitely meant that
17:54
everybody had to chip in to do all the chores associated with
17:57
it. We had to get out of the house.
17:59
We have to doesn't matter what the weather is like and we've
18:02
actually been very lucky. The weather.
18:04
I think there was just one day where it was like really
18:06
chucking down rain. But otherwise it's been, we've
18:09
been really fortunate. But so we committed to doing
18:11
that two days a week and still doing the Pony Stars that the
18:16
girls were doing, still doing Pony Club, which is twice a
18:18
month. And so all of that has been
18:22
great, but it's definitely been something that I found while my
18:29
oldest has really enjoyed it, no matter what, my younger 2 have
18:36
found it a bit challenging just because the pony is a little bit
18:39
tricky and so they can't always ride her.
18:42
We need the instructor to help, things like that.
18:45
And so it's just given us a really good opportunity to
18:49
assess like what's working for us, what's not, and like the
18:52
trade off of the schedule. So like I've had to personally
18:56
be very involved in this. Obviously from a safety
19:00
perspective and, and from a capability perspective, I
19:03
definitely felt like they had the ability to do it and they
19:06
do. But I just didn't realize the
19:09
importance of finding the exact right environment to sacrifice
19:14
the amount of learning that we were giving up because there was
19:17
plenty of times when we would get to the stable.
19:20
And I, I'm like, hey, guys, in and out in an hour.
19:22
We got to get back because we got to do this.
19:23
We got to do that. And it's just like, well, no, we
19:26
can't. We just, we can't get out of
19:27
there in less than two hours. And typically it's three.
19:29
And then by the time we get home, no one wants to do
19:32
anything because they're, they felt like they've done a lot.
19:34
Yeah. And they have it made us give up
19:38
one of our weekly outdoor meetups with friends because of
19:41
the days that it was assigned. And I didn't realize until we
19:44
started going back to that how much they missed it because it
19:47
happens slowly. You don't realize like, Oh my
19:48
gosh, This is why they're going bananas.
19:51
And we were still outside. We were still doing things.
19:53
So I but the physical activity, the mental release was not the
19:55
same. So I think like it's been really
19:59
good because it shows us that we do, we do like having a pony
20:03
share. I think it's just shown us as
20:06
well like the commitment. Level that we're prepared to
20:11
make at this time because then I have my younger 2 that are
20:16
saying, Oh well, we would like to also start gymnastics again
20:21
and we would like to do this drama thing in England.
20:27
There's this thing called Stagecoach, but I'm not even
20:29
going to try to explain it to you.
20:30
So if you live in America, just Google it.
20:33
And so like they, if we're going to do that, like we just don't
20:39
have the time in our day. Like we just, we just don't like
20:41
you can't be 100% extracurricular activities, but
20:44
we have to have a little. Cord to have some down time at
20:47
home daily. And, and some just some time
20:49
together, like it's winter, it's feeling like I want to light the
20:52
candle and sit on the couch and read books together.
20:54
And instead we're like going all over.
20:58
So yeah. So I think that's like a really
21:00
big thing. And like the last, I would say
21:02
like four months that we're going to shift around a bit in
21:06
the new year and try to find a better fit I.
21:08
Think the constant juggle of trying to get your schedule
21:10
right is is basically just the life is.
21:14
Ongoing yeah, it that's the thing right we're.
21:17
Going to get it right are we at the end of the day?
21:19
Yeah. And I think there's always so
21:21
many more cool things that you could try.
21:23
And I think I started out home Ed with mine, with the attitude
21:26
of each term, we'll just try something new.
21:29
Like we'll drop something and we'll pick something up instead.
21:31
So not necessarily adding, but just like changing something
21:34
out. And that's worked really well up
21:36
until now. And now they've found climbing
21:38
and they love it so much, but I'm just like, OK, well, that's
21:43
my Tuesday afternoon set for the rest of your homemade career.
21:45
Fantastic. Like that's just going to have
21:47
to stick. It's same as their forest school
21:48
they go to every week. They love it.
21:49
And, and so it's like, OK, this is, this is really good that
21:54
we're obviously starting to get some stuff established that you
21:56
guys do feel really comfortable out that you enjoy going to,
21:59
especially my youngest who really struggles with pretty
22:01
much anything out of the house. But she's becoming more
22:04
confident in herself, like she's communicating that much better.
22:08
She's learning how to use me to help her to communicate with her
22:11
friends. So she needs a bit of help to
22:13
overcome a challenge instead of just not joining in.
22:15
Like she's managed to find a way to get me to talk to them and,
22:18
and expressed that she wants to join in, but they just need to
22:20
invite her. So they just need to tell her
22:22
that they want her to. And then she feels relaxed to go
22:25
and join in, but she doesn't like to just muscle in to play.
22:27
There's all these little bits of like communication that she's
22:30
able to get across to me now and to others.
22:32
That means that she's starting to engage with things that much
22:34
more, which is wonderful. But ultimately she's but both of
22:39
them really love climbing and they both really enjoy their
22:42
forest school. And so it's like, OK, good.
22:44
So we've got a couple of established bits, but I have to
22:47
really kind of constantly manage the energy levels and keeping
22:50
some downtime at home and, and give us that rest bite.
22:53
But we, we've also found that we're finding it so hard with
22:56
everyone's super busy schedules to keep relationships going and
22:59
to keep them seeing their friends.
23:01
And yeah, I've literally I put an announcement in my local
23:04
group recently just been like, OK, desperate mum, Ala.
23:07
I'm sick of driving 40 minutes to see everybody that I like
23:09
seeing. I was like, is anybody else?
23:11
We've got similar age kids locally.
23:13
He's he's also looking for someone to hang out with a bit
23:15
more. Like please just tell me.
23:16
And I've met, I've met load of new people online in the same
23:19
vein who now want the same thing.
23:21
And hopefully I'll make a few new friends this year.
23:22
So my big goal for this coming year, I think, is to try and
23:25
bring a little bit more of our social into local.
23:27
So we're not doing quite as much driving, but also to to try and
23:32
see if I can work out like some of the relationships that I'm
23:35
missing and I'm not seeing as much to see if we can work out
23:37
something that means that we do get to see each other that bit
23:40
more often or, or whatever. So it's a constant battle of
23:43
shifting and changing the what to meet needs in the current and
23:47
for now, because they're not the same, they're not the same
23:50
children a year ago as they are now and they won't be again in
23:54
another year. And I think that that constant
23:56
development and change can feel quite a lot sometimes.
23:59
But I think as long as we're open and receptive to change and
24:02
recognising when things aren't working and being like, OK,
24:04
that's this is just isn't quite right and we need to do
24:07
something about it. I'm a really firm believer that
24:10
as home educating parents, we should not be completely
24:13
sacrificing our own joy and tolerance and limits like that.
24:18
Of course, we all sacrifice for each other sometimes or
24:21
compromise or like make it work. But ultimately, if I don't
24:26
believe that anyone should sit there going, well, I sacrificed
24:29
all of my time and energy and money and happiness so that you
24:32
could have a wonderful childhood because there's absolutely
24:34
nothing about that that doesn't breed resentment, no matter how
24:37
much we want to say it doesn't that we're living our lives too
24:41
and we have to get a good balance.
24:43
But do I sometimes find myself thinking, gosh, it's, it's cost
24:46
us four times as much to go out for dinner or like, gosh, it's
24:50
like, exactly this is crazy. They didn't even eat it.
24:52
Like it's ended up going in the bed.
24:54
Like it's it. There are moments that do make
24:56
us go, ha, this, this is frustrating, of course.
24:59
And as, as I say, I always think that resentment isn't a dirty
25:02
word. It's just something to notice.
25:04
So if you're noticing it coming up and you're feeling resentful,
25:08
then it's not putting that on someone else, but it's saying,
25:10
OK, decisions that I am making right now are leading me to feel
25:15
resentful of like, I mean, if it is the kids, then it's simply
25:19
because they exist. So it's like, OK, so I made.
25:24
That's a harsh. One, but it's like, OK, they
25:27
exist and that's making me feel resentful.
25:29
Why? Why am I feeling resentful?
25:31
Well, it's because actually I haven't made any time for myself
25:33
recently or haven't, I haven't gone out and had some fun with
25:36
my friends or going to sit and read a book or I don't protect
25:40
my personal time well enough or I don't like set a boundary well
25:43
enough. And actually it's taking some
25:45
ownership of that and recognizing that there are
25:47
things that you can do and change to potentially ease that,
25:51
not necessarily always get rid of it all because it's a real
25:53
feeling and it's one of the rainbow of feelings that humans
25:56
experience. It's just understanding that
25:58
it's so often less about them and more about the choices that
26:01
we are making, kind of like moving on slightly.
26:04
It's the the book studies. So you, you actually inspired me
26:07
with this one because you were talking about the read allows
26:09
that you do with your kids and how sometimes you just use a
26:11
book that you read together and that develops the kind of topic
26:15
and the conversation you're doing.
26:16
And I got so into it and we ordered a load of really good
26:19
books as we kind of came into this changing respective series.
26:22
And I've been reading them with the kids of an evening.
26:25
And that's kind of become a really lovely part of our days
26:27
after dinner when I just want to sit and digest my foods, I just
26:31
grab it and read them a couple chapters and they colour or they
26:34
play with something quietly and I talk to them and tell them
26:36
about it. And then we have a conversation
26:37
about any bits that come up in it that we don't like or that we
26:39
find a bit jarring or like triggering or whatever.
26:43
And we talk about it a bit more. And it's opened up so many
26:46
amazing, interesting conversations that I never would
26:48
have imagined they would be participating in, to be honest,
26:51
at the ages that they are. And so actually that's become, I
26:55
think that's going to continue to become a real cornerstone of
26:58
our home ads is just reading random books relating to the
27:02
topic that we're doing at the time or that they're interested
27:04
in so that they can have that kind of wider understanding of
27:09
how something played out or yeah, I found that really
27:13
lovely. I've really enjoyed that this
27:15
year. Something I'm definitely going
27:16
to try and carry. On Yeah, same for us.
27:18
I mean, we we love books over here.
27:21
And I feel like that is if I had one goal as a parent, it would
27:24
be like to instill a love for books and my children.
27:28
Initially this was sort of something I was worried about
27:30
because the reading wasn't clicking for my kids.
27:33
So you book studies became really important because it was
27:38
a way for us to keep reading good books.
27:40
I was just reading them to my kids and then we were diving
27:44
into whatever topic or whatever grammar, whatever we felt was
27:47
going to come from that particular effort.
27:50
And we're definitely going to continue it.
27:52
And I feel like reading is one of the things this year that I'm
27:55
really excited about, the accomplishment, accomplishments
27:57
we've made in it. So my oldest is now reading
28:00
before bed every night on her own and she is blowing through
28:04
chapter books, which is first of all, of course, they're all
28:08
about horses. I like scour the charity shops
28:13
for horse books. And then we there was one she
28:17
really wanted and we finally were able to find it, but at a
28:20
different library. So like, she went up to the desk
28:23
and we put it on reserve and all of this.
28:26
So it's very exciting for that to come in.
28:29
And again, just yeah, we I've been going to the library with
28:33
my youngest. A little tangent here with my
28:36
youngest and my oldest were my oldest two were at art club this
28:40
year because of the pony share. We stopped art club this last
28:43
term and it's meant that now we all go to the library whenever
28:47
we're trying to exchange books and stuff.
28:49
And that has been awesome. So I didn't even realize like
28:51
how they were missing the library until we got it back in
28:54
our lives, which is really good. And then my middle daughter, who
28:58
has had 00 interest in reading, it actually has been like a
29:03
point of contention for, you know, in the house for me to be
29:06
like, it's OK that she's not reading.
29:08
Like this is OK. This is her timeline.
29:11
If I push it, she will hate it. So I'm.
29:15
I kind of really held on and now she is really taking off of it.
29:18
So that has been amazing. So I do credit.
29:21
Yeah. I think we've had a really good
29:23
reading year. The books, like that's been a
29:26
big part of that. So I'm definitely going to
29:28
continue with that as well and hopefully bring in some more.
29:31
We're doing one right now on the Titanic.
29:33
So we're sort of bringing in like nonfiction components and
29:35
like what are characteristics of nonfiction books?
29:38
Like let's look at the glossary, the index, you know, drawings,
29:41
math. And so it's been really cool.
29:43
And so we're kind of branching away even in from like fiction
29:47
and into into nonfiction, which has been good.
29:50
So yeah, we'll be continuing that too.
29:52
I love it. Yeah, it's, it's really lovely,
29:54
isn't it? And I think this, this also has
29:57
come up really helped with things like storytelling.
30:01
So my son, for example, he doesn't access imaginative.
30:05
It's called ideation, I think is the term that's used.
30:08
It's at the concept of being able to come up with his own
30:11
ideas. It's very, very tricky for him.
30:13
And so actually one of the things autistic children need
30:15
quite a lot of is, is a lot of reading a lot of books because
30:19
it helps to give them more and more and more characters and
30:21
concepts and. Visuals and ideas.
30:23
And it builds almost like a bit like just building vocabulary.
30:27
It just, it just builds more ideas and opportunities in their
30:29
heads than they can reuse them and reimagine them that much
30:32
easier. And ultimately we have been
30:35
trying to get him interested in breeding without kind of really
30:42
putting any pressure on it for many years.
30:43
And he's done really well. He's developed, he developed the
30:45
ability to read, but he still wasn't really picking up books.
30:48
And so this year I was using A1 free book that we got on the
30:53
Amazon prime deal thing to get one free book every month.
30:56
And I basically gifted that to him because I've got my own
30:59
audible membership. I get a plow through too many
31:01
books to survive with that one. And and he gets that free one
31:04
every month. So he's been able to choose a
31:06
book every month. And he went through the whole
31:07
Percy Jackson series and like all sorts of stuff, and he's
31:10
really loving that. And actually, a lot of people
31:12
kind of went, oh, yeah, if they listen to audiobooks all the
31:14
time, they're actually going to, they are going to pick up a
31:16
book. It's too easy.
31:17
Like they're not taking it in as much.
31:19
And I really want to dispute this because ultimately I think
31:22
it's a real shame that we almost gatekeep access to books and
31:26
stories and vocabulary that sometimes you think, oh, no,
31:29
they've got to read it themselves.
31:30
I've got to get them reading a book and pick it up themselves.
31:32
And actually what I've found is the inspiration that comes from
31:37
offering it to them in a medium that means that they can access
31:39
it and then gradually showing them the delights of actually
31:43
picking up a book and reading it for themselves.
31:45
It does come. And I mean, like he's gone from
31:47
reading a quite easy simple reader books to actually
31:52
managing to get through a book that was a chapter book very
31:54
recently. He loves graphic novels and he
31:57
sort of, he can plow through a graphic novel in a couple of
31:59
days now. But ultimately he would then
32:01
read it and read it and read it and read it.
32:03
And then I'm hoping that really this next coming year, I can see
32:07
that he would now probably sit down with a chapter book and he
32:10
would probably finish it. And like every night they read
32:13
the How to Train Your Dragon novels as my husband and him sit
32:16
and read a few chapters every night.
32:17
And my son will read a page and then my husband will read the
32:22
rest of the chapter. And just sort of just gently
32:24
getting him more used to doing bigger pages of texts.
32:28
Because I think once you can start to imagine it as you're
32:30
reading it and you start enjoying it and you really start
32:31
to develop this ability to carry on.
32:34
And I honestly think that when it comes to again, the natural
32:38
course of things for a child, see again, discounting kind of
32:41
dyslexia and any child who've got a really difficult to access
32:45
kind of elements of this sort of thing.
32:46
Like of course, if they are becoming significant challenges,
32:49
then they're going to need some more specialist support.
32:52
But when you have got a child who is just gradually working
32:54
their way there, most of the time the hands off or just very
32:59
gentle scaffolding approach is enough and gives them a chance
33:02
to find their way there at a pressure place that makes them
33:04
actually feel good about it. And I guess we just gently
33:07
encourage or we gently inspire or we offer opportunity or we
33:10
read to them or we give them Audible books or like whatever
33:13
it might be, we're we're dropping in the joy.
33:17
We're keeping that joy up and it eventually will lead to them
33:21
knowing that picking up a book and reading is just as much fun
33:24
and be equally like, I find that if I listen to audio Audible
33:28
books, because I can then carry on doing the things I'm doing.
33:31
Like I can, I can knit or I can draw or I can paint or I can do
33:35
the washing up or I can like I can do other things whilst I'm
33:39
listening. I can drive or whatever.
33:40
And it's like I actually then get to consume a lot more books
33:44
and get a lot more vocabulary and get a lot more inspiration
33:49
than I would if I was just going to read books physically sitting
33:52
down and reading them on paper. And I think it's OK to kind of
33:56
allow these things to be flexible and to allow them to
33:58
kind of reach interest in it when they want to reach it.
34:00
And I think kind of this brings us quite neatly on to the fact
34:03
that actually, you know, we've had a big whole episode about
34:05
it. So if you want to hear my full
34:06
opinion on AI, go back and listen to that one.
34:08
But AI has also been really helpful in this, like going from
34:12
me kind of asking it to write it's a bedtime story about a
34:14
particular character to now my son will dictate the place that
34:18
it happens, the characters that happen, what they look like,
34:20
what might happen in the story. And he gives it a full prompt
34:24
and he's learning how to give it a full kind of feature of what
34:27
he wants from it. And then it writes him a great
34:29
story and he loves it. And he's noticed actually, the
34:31
more information you give it, sometimes the worse the story.
34:35
It needs to be left in its own delight.
34:36
If you give it its own freedom to do what it wants, then it
34:39
will come up with a really great story.
34:40
But sometimes it gets a bit convoluted if it's if you give
34:42
it too much information. So it's quite interesting.
34:45
But he has learned so much about the concept of story building.
34:49
So now he understands that a story needs a place, it needs
34:53
characters, it needs some color and texture and visuals that you
34:56
know what you're actually looking at.
34:57
Like he has now started to understand the concept of
35:00
writing a story. And this is something which I've
35:02
been really struggling to get him to actually have any
35:04
interest in doing. And so I think AI this year has
35:07
obviously has blown up everyone's world really, hasn't
35:09
it? And it's been around since about
35:11
2022, I think it is. But obviously it's only really
35:13
just properly taking hold on people now.
35:16
And I know we've all got our reservations about it, but I'd
35:19
certainly think that then in certain small windows of usage,
35:23
he is finding it very, very helpful to actually develop his
35:27
skills and understanding of how something is created.
35:32
And it's becomes a very independent experience for him,
35:34
too. It's also teaching him about the
35:36
joys of voice to text and how inaccurate that is and how much
35:39
easier it is sometimes to just type it yourself.
35:40
And like, yeah, so many different things that he is
35:44
learning from that experimentation.
35:47
Yeah. I just think sometimes we need
35:49
to be mindful that at one point people didn't like kids reading
35:52
books because they felt like they were lost in other worlds
35:54
all the time. So like, let's just give it a
35:56
chance. Let's give it a chance to see
35:59
what happens. Like I think it could have some
36:01
great benefits to you. Getting back to the audio books
36:05
for a second, I think I will challenge anyone on this that
36:10
says it's not reading or that it doesn't have a value like
36:14
reading a book because one, we already know the value of kids
36:19
being read to that that is certainly not disputed.
36:22
And so the more people that can read to our children, the more
36:27
accents, dialects, voices that they hear, it is a great is a
36:31
great thing. And the fact that they're using
36:34
their minds to create this world is amazing.
36:37
So I think that that that to me is just when people say that it
36:42
does kind of boil my blood a bit.
36:44
The other thing is, I recently read, and I may have already
36:50
said this, but I will repeat it because I think it's super
36:52
interesting that when you or listening to an audio book, the
36:59
narrator is reading it exactly as it's written.
37:02
So you are consuming a proper, fully structured sentence in
37:09
most cases, right? You're hearing it in the way
37:15
that it was intended and the way that it was written.
37:18
And when we speak, we leave out things.
37:21
We skip words when we read, and I did not know this.
37:24
This is so interesting to me. Without knowing when we read a
37:29
book or when we probably read anything, we will skip over
37:33
stuff. Our mind is still processing it,
37:36
but we'll skip words, we'll shorten things.
37:39
We don't consume it in the same way that you do when you hear
37:45
it. And so there is a value of
37:48
actually consuming the language and the way that it's written.
37:53
It's just so super interesting to me.
37:55
And so I think that as our kids are learning to read, they will
38:00
skip over things, they will mistake words, They will have
38:04
their their mind is moving faster than their brain is
38:07
speaking to itself, I guess in a way, I don't know how to explain
38:11
that, but I thought that was just so super interesting.
38:14
So it is really important, especially as kids are older and
38:17
you stop reading to them at night.
38:19
It is very important for your preteens and teens to hear
38:23
things, read to them, and not just to be reliant on their own
38:27
consumption. And so I think audiobooks for me
38:30
is just as important to develop a love for that, which the Yodo
38:34
is a huge component of that for us.
38:35
And then we always listen to audiobooks in the car.
38:38
We've done the whole Harry Potter series, which we're
38:39
finally wrapping up. We're on the last book.
38:42
I'm very excited about it just cuz there's so many other books
38:44
I want us to start doing. So I feel like this is a long
38:48
commitment, but but it's been good.
38:51
And so I think that for me is also really important.
38:53
I think modeling that like the fact that you're listening to an
38:56
audio book. My girls know if I have my
38:58
earbud and I'm probably listening to an audio book.
39:00
So I think it's just good to show like, no, this is a
39:03
continued thing. And the more that we can
39:07
encourage that, it's only going to be a good thing.
39:11
I also think it offers them a sustained focus too.
39:13
I mean, my son, I remember thinking, just thinking about
39:15
this, the Harry Potter books when we were listening to them
39:18
was actually when he was in hospital there for a couple of
39:20
days. And honestly, we could sit there
39:21
for hours listening to Audible work together and he would just
39:26
sit there and listen and almost not need to do anything else.
39:29
I mean, for a child to be able to to provide that much
39:31
sustained focus and to be so lost in the imaginative kind of
39:35
world in his head, like kind of imagining it as he's listening,
39:39
it's huge. That ability to focus on it for
39:40
that long is so great. And it does it does kind of
39:44
create that kind of completion interest as well.
39:46
Like, I know that if I'm really enjoying a good book, then I'll
39:49
want to finish it. And that that in itself is a
39:51
really great skill and something which we should be encouraging
39:54
more and more of in young people really.
39:55
But but yeah, I mean, I think kind of, I guess I'm looking at
39:58
the time and realize that we've been talking for a while.
40:00
I know that we'd love to kind of keep on forever about these
40:03
things. But I guess the last couple of
40:04
thoughts I had for the year that's just gone and kind of
40:07
what we're going to carry on with is regulation tools.
40:09
So I mean, we definitely need to do a lot of movement during our
40:14
learning, a lot of fidgeting, a lot of doing different things
40:16
and things like the bubble cushion, there's swing we've got
40:18
downstairs, but also combined with mixing up our mediums, so.
40:23
This is going to sound a bit random, but using things like
40:26
the, I found these, you know, the temporary tattoos you can
40:30
get, you can get markers that you can draw on yourself with
40:34
and they stay for a while. So they, they're kind of
40:36
glitter. They're really pretty and they
40:37
come to those stencils and stuff as well.
40:38
But between between writing on their own bodies right on the
40:43
windows with chalk markers, we've got a glass table outside
40:47
that we sit around in the summer months to enjoy our meals.
40:50
And we were using the chalk markers to draw on the table.
40:53
It's like playing hangman, playing tic tac toe, like
40:55
whatever you fancy doing, but like mix up your mediums, draw
40:58
in sand, like draw on glass, like drawing themselves.
41:03
Like we did this whole like dinosaur timeline as part of a
41:05
really great session in mass with Ruth as it's joyful Mass
41:08
with Ruth on Facebook. It's free sessions for home and
41:11
families. You can obviously pay a little
41:12
bit every month to support, but she's fellow home Med mom.
41:15
She's an ex maths head of department of secondary school
41:18
and she does the most incredibly fun maths lessons.
41:20
And essentially she did this great.
41:22
What about dinosaurs where she got them to draw out the
41:24
timeline of like with Cretaceous period and the Jurassic period
41:28
and stuff on their arm. And my son was like, oh, can we
41:30
get some dinosaur tattoos so that I can like put the right
41:33
dinosaurs in the right section. And I was like, yeah, sure.
41:35
Like to be ordered sub and literally he made me keep
41:38
redrawing that on his arm with a sharpie over and over and over
41:41
again so that it wouldn't fade for weeks.
41:44
Like it was hilarious. That's walking around with his
41:46
dinosaur timeline on his arm. And so mixing up the mediums,
41:49
creating a new canvas, having a bit of fun with different
41:52
things. But just like using the sensory
41:54
swing downstairs, you've got this sensory swing.
41:56
It's right by these, our big double back doors that lead out
41:58
into the garden. And I use it like a whiteboard.
42:00
So we talk about stuff and I draw in there and we talk about
42:03
whatever we want to talk about whilst they're messing about on
42:06
the swing or the wobble board and then the fidget cushion and
42:08
stuff. And so movement regulation tools
42:12
allowing them to move their bodies and do what they need to
42:14
do to eat, drink, fidget really is super important for us.
42:19
And I think that's something we've been doing so much better
42:21
at this year and embracing that much more and have experienced
42:23
so much less pushback and so much more engagement from our
42:26
children. But I'm very grateful that I've
42:29
obviously come on board with the concept of it so well.
42:32
But that was, I think really that was that was my main
42:34
thoughts. Really the things which have
42:35
really been a big deal for us to sort of travel, changing up the
42:38
transport, changing up the medium, using the regulation
42:41
tools, enjoying those evening read alouds and AI because I'm
42:45
controversial and I like it. And I think that it's I don't
42:48
want to use it all the time, but I certainly will a little bit.
42:50
And I think that's my main, those are my main, kind of like
42:53
if I really want to reflect on the tools that have been really
42:55
helpful to our home Ed this year, I think it's that.
42:58
And I think I don't really have much of A plan for next year.
43:01
And that in itself has made me smile thinking that actually,
43:05
I'm not stressed actually at all.
43:07
I'm not sitting here gearing up for a massive planning session.
43:09
I don't feel like I need to do a massive reject.
43:12
Things are feeling pretty stable.
43:13
And I think that in itself is a really wonderful gift because it
43:16
shows me that I don't know exactly how foreign we are now.
43:19
I think my son would be in years 3.
43:22
I think I have this struggle all the time.
43:24
What grade are they in? Now I have to find someone else
43:27
the same age and be like what grade is your kid?
43:29
Here for like I'm not honestly not sure, but ultimately we have
43:33
been at this for four or five years now like yes, OK, not very
43:36
long in the grand scheme of things, but long enough for me
43:38
to have my feet running truly under the table.
43:40
And actually I feel like finally things are feeling pretty chill.
43:44
I actually feel pretty relaxed. They're both developing at a
43:47
rate which is making me feel quite, quite satisfied and happy
43:50
that they are progressing. They're showing good interest in
43:53
the subjects they're interested in and actually our homemade is
43:56
feeling pretty joyful right now. So you gave for that.
43:58
If you just want to celebrate that with me for a moment, then
44:00
feel free. I'm sorry if it's not the case
44:01
for you right now. I appreciate that it isn't it.
44:04
It will not stay this way. Just in case anybody feels like
44:06
I'm bragging it, I'm sure at some point in the next few
44:08
months something will rocket completely again.
44:10
But. Right now.
44:11
It feels pretty stable and I'm grateful for that.
44:13
And I think that we and we should pause and notice when it
44:17
feels good and when it feels like it's In Sync because it's a
44:19
good point to then kind of go, right, Well, what's so good
44:21
about it then? Let's keep an eye on it.
44:23
Like what is it that we love about it?
44:24
What do we like? Yeah.
44:25
Just in case it goes off kilter again, it could be like, right.
44:27
It worked really well when yeah, we were doing this so.
44:31
Yeah, yeah, I think we we're, we've pretty much covered
44:35
everything on my list too. I'm just looking.
44:37
I I'd also noted online classes and and out school and that has
44:42
been something that I don't I think we've gotten to the point
44:46
where they're working for us. They're the kids are happy to
44:52
sit for 25 minutes and do a little class.
44:55
And I found like a Canva class that's just the two of them,
45:00
which financially is awful. But actually for them, they've
45:05
really enjoyed. And I'm sort of saying, OK, this
45:09
is online creativity, plus it's computer skills.
45:13
And they're spending an hour with a different adult who's
45:17
teaching them something totally different than I do.
45:19
And they're really enjoying it. And she has such patience and
45:23
she's so good with them and some sort of like, I don't know,
45:27
they're kind of friends now, but.
45:28
Yeah, I. Can't take that away.
45:31
So. So we're going to keep doing
45:32
that. I use camera a lot for my
45:34
business. I do things I do.
45:36
Yeah, I mean, mostly they just search for horse pictures and
45:38
put them on a sheet of paper and asked me to print it.
45:40
But they, they do, they have created like a magazine and
45:45
bookmarks and oh, this leads me to the next thing we have.
45:49
They've, they've created all like the advertisements and
45:51
stuff for their little booth that they do at craft fairs
45:56
where they create Rainbow Loom bracelets.
45:59
So this has been a big thing. And so they've done all of that.
46:02
So, yeah. And we've been getting some more
46:04
craft fairs and they've been sort of having to figure out
46:08
what sells, what doesn't, what should we change, what should we
46:11
add, What's the cost of something like that?
46:14
You know, does it, will we ever get even close to what we spend
46:18
on it back if we sell it? Or is this just something I'm
46:21
kind of donating? But so they definitely want to
46:24
keep doing the craft fairs, which I think it's really fun.
46:26
That's great. Yeah.
46:28
Enterprise skills that super important.
46:30
Skills. Yeah, yeah.
46:32
And then into next year, I think we're going to continue with the
46:36
kind of more chores and more responsibility.
46:38
We've added a bit this year. And it just definitely feels
46:41
like I am sort of getting to the point of my, my limit of taking
46:47
care of them, the stuff that they certainly could do
46:49
themselves. I just, I, I no longer want to
46:53
put your dishes in the dishwasher.
46:54
I just don't. So you bring them from the table
46:57
and so you rinse them off or dump the food or whatever and
47:01
then put it in the dishwasher. Yeah, I just, I, I have no
47:04
patience for it anymore. I've been doing it for my oldest
47:07
11. I am done.
47:09
So I just feel a. Feeling myself to be fair.
47:14
Yeah. So like all these little things
47:15
I, you know, to your earlier point of like kind of looking at
47:18
reflecting what's working and then what is like for, for me,
47:21
like not working. And I feel like this is one of
47:25
the things where I'm getting very annoyed in my day when I am
47:29
doing this. And because we're home, because
47:31
it, it's not just one meal, it's all the meals and we have like
47:34
50, they, the plates add up. And so I'm just, yeah, that
47:39
part. So we're definitely going to do
47:41
more of that. I think we're going to do more
47:42
games. I've noticed one that we're not
47:45
always the best losers in card games and things like that.
47:51
So I Right, some of us are and some of us aren't, so no one's
47:55
here to point fingers out the butt.
47:57
I'm sure you can imagine which one I'm talking about.
47:59
So I want. Nobody's very good at taking
48:02
turns. We all forget whose turn it is
48:04
next. And so even I'm.
48:05
Totally pop it and just keep. Just like going to take a turn
48:08
again and poor, poor my poor husband.
48:09
Is it? She just sat there going like,
48:12
do I go like, what is going on? Like it's not your turn, it's
48:16
his turn. Like I'm like, sorry, he's
48:19
paying attention here. Anyone.
48:21
You need like the the speaking stick or whatever, like
48:24
something to pass around. And it's like, here's her idea.
48:27
Yeah, that's great. Just to.
48:29
You can't hold the dice if you don't have the magic pen.
48:33
Yeah. So, so I think we're going to
48:35
keep doing that. My kids love games and we, I
48:37
found that we tend to play the state like we've had a go fish
48:40
stack of cards that has like lived on our kitchen table.
48:42
So all the games are upstairs. So we tend to keep playing that
48:45
one. So I'm going to try to like get
48:47
more proactive about like shuffling some of the other ones
48:50
down because I get sick of playing the same one over and
48:52
over again. And then it's a.
48:54
Good point. We have a stack of games by our
48:55
dining room table, and it does mean you play them like we do.
48:58
Get them out after dinner and sit and play a game of Scrabble
49:00
or something random, because they do enjoy doing that a lot,
49:04
yeah. So I think we're going to keep
49:06
doing that and a little more a little more intentional about
49:10
it. And then the last one I have is
49:11
just like, are we going to add back some things?
49:14
Like are we going to go back to engineering?
49:15
Are we going to go back to art? Are we going to start some of
49:18
these other things the girls want to do?
49:20
We want to do climbing actually, I forgot that one.
49:24
And we did want to do that. I think the girls really enjoyed
49:26
what we did at the one time. So yeah.
49:27
So this is the thing where I'm trying to, I think when we talk
49:30
about like there's always like that New Year feeling and like,
49:34
what are we changing? What are we doing differently,
49:36
the New Year's resolutions and things like that.
49:37
And I think to your point, like our school itself feels good.
49:40
It's, it's the other stuff that I'm not sure what that's going
49:43
to look like. So that's sort of what I'm
49:44
thinking. About feeling a bit, yeah, yeah.
49:47
Yeah, it's just had a big upheaval recently and I've not
49:50
been able to get us back, so yeah.
49:53
As I say, I think for us, maybe our not necessarily New Year's
49:56
resolution, but definitely something which I've already
49:58
started thinking about is our social that I feel like we are
50:00
lacking enough regular contact. We do still see people like I'm
50:04
not kind of like they will see friends three to four times a
50:08
week. So I mean, it's time you see no
50:10
one. I've realized now as I say that
50:11
out loud, how ridiculous I sound like do we need more?
50:14
Yes, we need more. We're an ADHD family.
50:16
We need more. We need it daily, at least for a
50:18
little while. Every day we need to spend some
50:20
time talking to someone because my social battery goes down
50:23
really, really fast. And so I do need to see people
50:25
and chat to people most days, but it is harder for them when
50:29
really that they're kind of at the mercy of everybody else's
50:32
schedules and timings and sickness.
50:35
And if we're going to get to somewhere or not, if it's just
50:38
sometimes it feels like might go two or three days where they
50:40
just don't get to see anyone or do anything and they're really
50:42
bored. And I'm just like, I'm so sorry.
50:43
Like you need to get better. Like we can't go anywhere yet.
50:46
These things happen. But social does feel very
50:49
important to me that we need to have some more friendships and
50:52
some more relationships that we can fall on that are local that
50:55
want to kind of meet up and do things like even just a quick
50:58
trip to the Brandon Lee to the park.
50:59
Like are you free Exactly going to the park?
51:02
Like I just need a couple of people who are local to be able
51:03
to do that with. I think it's going to really
51:05
make a difference to our our weeks.
51:08
But obviously, from a podcast perspective, guys, we really
51:11
want to say a huge thank you. We've definitely got a big group
51:14
of you every week. You literally TuneIn within the
51:16
day of it going live, which is really special.
51:18
We love, love seeing how many of you are constantly just like
51:20
jumping straight onto here our episodes.
51:23
We are taking a little bit of a break.
51:24
So I am about to start my official ADHD coaching course,
51:27
which is very exciting. So as of March, I will be a
51:30
fully qualified ADHD coach. Obviously, I am a coach already
51:34
and I have got some qualifications in place already,
51:36
but this is just a kind of step up in my learning.
51:38
So I'm very, very excited. But that does mean we're going
51:40
to take a short break. Do keep listening to the
51:42
episodes gone by. Do catch up.
51:44
Do keep reaching out to us and saying hello.
51:45
Have a wonderful festive season, whatever it looks like for you.
51:49
And thank you so much for loving, sharing, subscribing,
51:53
commenting, reviewing, all of it.
51:56
Like if you can give US1 Christmas present this year,
51:58
it'll be just to share it with a friend and give us a couple more
52:00
people who enjoy coming and listening ready for next year.
52:03
Yeah. But thank you so much for being
52:06
our audience and for listening to us just just whitter on about
52:09
whatever we fancy talking about. Ashley, aren't they lovely?
52:12
We appreciate you so much for keeping us going.
52:16
I say we really enjoy it, don't we?
52:17
I think we started this as a, as a bit of fun, really, didn't we?
52:20
Like, it was just meant to be a bit of fun.
52:22
And it's. Yeah, we're nearly two years in.
52:24
How amazing is that? Like, I can't believe we've kept
52:26
this up for as long as we have. And we certainly have no
52:28
intention of it going anywhere. So that's really exciting.
52:31
So, yeah, thank you all for making us a part of your week
52:35
happy. We'll see you all again next
52:37
year. Take care everyone.
52:39
Bye. You've been listening to the Big
52:46
Home Ed Conversations podcast. Thanks for tuning in.
52:50
Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share with a
52:53
friend. Follow us on Instagram and
52:56
TikTok at Big Home Ed Podcast for updates.
53:00
Thank you for listening to Season 4.
53:02
We'll see you in the spring with a new season, but in the
53:04
meantime, go back and listen to any episodes that you've missed.
53:08
Look out for the occasional book review as we'll drop a few of
53:11
those over the winter. Happy holidays and thanks again
53:14
for listening.